Phylum: Phaeophyta

Class: Phaeophyceae

Order: Fucales

Family: Fucaceae

Fucus distichus (Silva)

Description: This plant is erect, up to 50 cm. high, somewhat rigid and cartilaginous, markedly flattened, and olive green to yellowish green in colour. The plant is regularly and repeatedly dichotomously branched, starting 2-5 cm. above a basal discoid holdfast. There is a conspicuous percurrent midrib throughout. The erect flattened portion is 10-18 mm. wide, and near the holdfast the plant becomes narrowly stipitate through thickening of the midrib and erosion of the thinner margins. The apices of the plant are broadly rounded, with swollen receptacles (when sexually mature) up to 6 cm. long. The swollen tips are generally yellowish in colour.

Habitat: On rocks and wood in the middle and lower intertidal zones.

Pacific Coast Distribution: Alaska to California.

Robert Scagel, 1972

Fucus distichus on Race Rocks slipway	F. distichus showing swollen yellow apices	F. distichus specimens
Author’s finger for size comparison purposes	Another F. distichus	F. distichus at low tide, showing water loss
Holdfast exposed	Unknown Laminarian holdfasts with Fucus	A. elegantissima growing among Fucus